A Simple Kind of Life
by Aria3
Summary: A romantic-based story about Quistis Trepe and her battles with depression.
1. Solitude

A Simple Kind of Life  
An FF8 Fanfiction

By Aria  
[arianna@envy.nu][1]

Part One: Search

Quistis Trepe stared at a plant, sitting propped against a wall within the Cafeteria of Balamb Garden. The lush green leaves, waxy in appearance, jutted out of the bark of the plant at odd angles, making it looking more like a bad hair day than the plant. Unperfect, but what was during those times? "Close to nothing," Quistis thought as she shifted her gaze towards the approaching figure as it took striding steps toward her. Female, about 5'4", and the most noticeable flip hairdo ever.

"Heya there, Quisty! How are you?"

"I'm fine, Selphie. What's up?" Quistis' tone was her normal, a calm, deep tone that seemed to wash over you like water over a glacier. That kind of tone that was deep, mature, and with such authority yet such compassion, all combined into one.

"Well, as a member of the Balamb Garden Festival Committee, I have to go around inviting people to... well... this."

Handing over the closed, parchment made envelope with the SeeD seal closing the flaps, Selphie looked up at Quistis with a smile. "I expect you to come, Quistis. After all, you _are_ Balamb Faculty." She giggled incessantly for at least 5 seconds, a trademark of hers, as Quistis stuffed the envelope away into a pocket of her dress.

"Thank you, Selphie. I'm sorry, but I have to go attend to some things. I'll see you later, ok? I'll try to come." With those words, Quistis smiled weakly, albeit fakely, and walked toward the Cafeteria exit, not noticing Selphie as she continued to pass out more invitations with the utmost perkiness.

*

Flinging the invitation on her desk, Quistis lept ontop of her bed, burying her face in the pillow and initiating the daily crying ritual that she had been doing recently. The tears squnted free of the prisons of tearducts, staining the pillow as she wept, ruining the "10 feet tall and bulletproof" reputation that she established for herself so carefully, so very well. If anyone, gods forbid, were to see her like _this_... well, Quistis just plain refused to even think about it.

She wasn't in the need of crying until not too long ago, actually. Everything was going along just swimmingly until Ultimecia was destroyed. The sorceress' destruction allowed peace to permeate the land, and peace had a way of making one discover about themselves a great deal more than one would, say, in the middle of a war. It was for that reason that Quistis begun to spiral downward.

But why sould someone of Quistis Trepe's stature, social and financial position be on a path of self-destruction? Why her? Love. Love, unfortunately, was one of those emotions that could kill just as powerfully as it could give life. She lacked this, wanted it desperately, and most definitely would give any of her possessions for it. She thought she had loved her pupil, the young and very attractive Squall Leonhart, but this turned out to just be a maternal instinct she felt due to the fact that she had raised Squall in the orphanage that Edea Kramer ran when they were very young. She, of course, had forgotten this due to the Guardian Forces they called forth within battle. An undiscovered side effect to them was that the more you used them, the more they would take a place in your brain. Consequently, information and memories stored there would gradually slip away at random.

The loud and abrupt rapping at her dormitory doorway alerted her to silence her reverie of crying immediately. Gaining her composure in an effort to not sound as if she was doing what she really was when she spoke, she wiped her eyes. "Just a moment," she called out.

Looking into a large mahogany-framed mirror that lay opposite her in the room, she examined her status. She looked like a wreck. Her normally tight and displinary-looking hair style was in utter dissaray, jutting out every which way, and not unlike the plant she had saw only moments ago. Her eyes were swolen from the tears, a puffy red instead of the smooth, light tan that was their normal state. Figuring that she couldn't change her condition in a quick enough period of time as to not keep her visitor waiting too long, she rushed to the door, opening it and fearing the worst.

"Hi Quistis, -- Oh my Gods, what happened to you??"

Quistis shook her haid. Due to the greeting part of Rinoa's last comment, Quistis almost instantly and intuitively knew that Rinoa had come to ramble to her about troubles with Squall, which really were non-existent. Quistis knew this because Rinoa was a rather doubtful sort of person when it came to relationships - she had come to Quistis numerous times before, and the instructor knew how she sounded when Rinoa was having problems with the iceburg-in-residence. "It doesn't matter, I'm fine now Rinoa." 

"You sure? You seem totally stressed!" Rinoa was starting to almost sound as perky as Selphie, Quistis thought as she shook her head. "I'm fine Rinoa, thank you. Now, why don't you sit down and we'll talk?" Quistis started towards a chair.

"Oh, don't worry. This won't be long. Squall just said he didn't want to go to the Prom with me."

Quistis looked confused, because she really had no clue what Rinoa was speaking of. "Prom? What Prom?"

"Didn't you get an invitation? Selphie was passing them out earlier."

"Oh... so that's what that was. I'll look at it later." Quistis thoughts drifted back to the parchment envelope.

Time passed, and Rinoa lost patience. "Well?? Can you help me?"

"Oh! Sorry, Rinoa, I forgot. Hmm... Well, I doubt it's anything serious. Why don't you do something like..." Quistis searched for a topic. "Promise him a 'special treat' if he were to go with you?"

Seeming to catch the drift, Rinoa responded, "Hey, that's not a bad idea! Thanks Quisty!" With that, she turned and left, closing the door softly behind her.

Sighing, Quistis went over to her desk where the envelope lay. She picked it up into her thin fingers, feeling the grainy texture of the parchment. She moved those fingers towards the SeeD seal, opening it and taking out the letter closed within. It said:

Balamb Prom

You are cordially invited to attend Balamb Garden's first annual Prom.   
We have selected you, and you only, because we deemed you worthy of attendance.

Please join us tonight. The Prom begins a 7:30, Balamb Standard Time.  
Note: All SeeD and Faculty are required to bring a date, and are expected to attend.   
If we were good enough to invite you, we feel that you are good enough to show up. Do so.

Headmaster Cid  
and  
Balamb Garden Festival Committee

Quistis felt the tears well up within her again. A date? Mandatory attendance? This was more than she could bear. Quistis dropped the note and envelope on the floor, running back to that pillow that provided her solace, and cryed herself dry. The parchment and note lay on the floor, forgotten. How could someone like Quistis ever find someone to love..._ her_?

   [1]: mailto:arianna@envy.nu



	2. Discovery

A Simple Kind of Life  
An FF8 Fanfiction

By Aria  
[arianna@envy.nu][1]

Part Two: Explore

The minute hand of the clock slowly ticked by. 7:00 p.m. was what it read. Quistis had thirty minutes, and still no date.

Feeling low, thoughts like "Why even bother?" or "It's useless," entered into her mind. She seriously doubted that she was going to get a date in time, and thus, she wouldn't be able to go. More than likely, she would be chewed out my Headmaster Cid for not attending, but rules were rules, and she knew that someone like her must definitely abide by them.

Sitting on a bench in the commons area of Garden, Quistis gave a very deep and long sigh. Never before had she felt so abandoned. It was as if no one even cared about her. While dwelling on this throught, she heard footsteps off in the distance, coming from the cafeteria. She looked up to see none other than Zell Dincht, her rather impulsive and quick-to-anger student. Zell changed course and walked over to her.

"'Sup, Quist? How's things goin' for yah?"

Quistis couldn't help but smile. Zell's grammar was always anything but good. "I'm..." Quistis debated for a moment. Should I lie, and send Zell off on his way, or should I tell him the truth, and send him into a massive attack of hyperbole?

"You're... bad, good, fine and dandy?" Zell flashed his maverick grin.

"Terrible," Quistis decided. "I'm very depressed and I don't want to be around anyone right now."

Zell, at the very least, was shocked. "What?! Depressed? That's like, REALLY RARE! Quistis Trepe is never depressed!"

"News flash, Zell. I am now." _Damn_, she thought. _That sounded way too bitter to be good._

"Why?" Zell looked very puzzled, but that was appropriate due to the fact that he really was.

"I can't say..."

Suddenly, clouds parted. A ray of golden light shot through them, brilliantly lighting up the land below in a beautiful glow of sunshine. Quistis had an idea.

"Hey, Zell?"

Zell, his impatient nature taking him over, had begun to punch the air. "Wazzat?"

"Um... did you get invited to the Balamb Prom?"

Sighing, Zell slouched and sat beside the hopeful Quistis. "Yeah... I can't go."

Quistis couldn't help but feel better as every sentence of dialogue passed. The anxiety and curiosity was beginning to take their toll on Quistis. "Why is that, Zell?"

"I ain't gotta date."

The Hallelujah Chorus began playing. For once, Quistis was actually happy about something. Zell... he seemed so unlikely for her on the outside, but on the inside, Quistis knew that this, if started properly, would be a grand relationship. Zell and her were the only ones of the group not in a relationship, and due to their extremely obvious protagonistic vs. antagonistic behavior, they were perfect for each other. It was a unwritten rule that opposites attracted. For an example, Quistis took Squall and Rinoa. Squall, Mr. Anti-Social, and Rinoa, Ms. Sociality of all Balamb, were quite possibly the most well-known couple in the world. Quistis also had to admit... she did have a thing for compulsive blondes.

Now, she had to think through this carefully. What would "normal" Quistis do in this situation? Would she play the role of dominator and ask Zell out, or just let Zell make the move? She chose the latter.

"I don't either, unfortunately. That's why I'm in such a wreck." Quistis replyed matter-of-factly.

Zell didn't quite hear her correctly. "I really wish I could go, but I guess wishing doesn't really help--" Quistis' words finally caught up with Zell. "Um... Hey Quistis?"

Quistis looked up into Zell's face. "Um... yeah?"

Zell felt the same anxiety and curiosity that Quistis had felt a brief moment before. "Would you... um... like to go with me?" Not giving her a chance to respond, he quickly interjected, "I mean, you don't have to. I'm just saying it would be really nice if you could, 'cus I really like you, and hopefully you like me, and since we don't have a date I was thinking maybe--"

Quistis interrupted with a smirk. "Zell... I would love to."

Zell, had he been standing, would have been able to do about 5 backward-handsprings without even resting. "D-D-Did you just say...!?"

Quistis nodded, smiling. Her face was perfectly framed by flowing blond hair, and under the lights of the Garden Commons Area she looked more like some ethereal being of majesty than a Balamb Instructor.

Zell returned the smile softly as he brought up his watch and checked the time. "7:25. Want to go ahead and go in?"

"Wait.. shouldn't we go and get dressed more... um... _appropriately_?"

Weighing the options, Zell replyed. "Yeah, good idea. Let's meet back here, ok?"

Quists gave a nodded, and they both went opposite directions to their dorm areas.

*

Quistis rushed around her room extatically, gathering dresses, accessories, hair utensils, and the like. "What am I going to wear?!" The frantic Quistis talked to herself, still searching around the room. This was a very special occassion, and Quistis had to make sure that she looked nothing short than radiant. Finding her best earrings, the still pristine, never worn zircon-studded golden ones given to her by her great-grandmother, and spraying on her nicest perfume, Quistis began fixing her hair up. She took it out of the usual bun and instead let it fall free, pinning up small parts of it with her hair pinnings.

Wait. Reality check time- was this really happening? It was a well known fact that the only female of the Trepe family this generation was stunningly beautiful, but Quistis wasn't exactly considered a wife type. She always seemed to hold the reputation of being a strong, independent female, but Quistis thought this just gave her even more of a good opportunity to shatter this reputation. Thinking as such, she left her dorm.

*

The lights dimmed, and the orchestra slowly and skillfully decresed in volume, beginning to draw their bows across the strings of their instruments and releasing marvelous harmonies and chords. The result was a slow and romantic dance that served as a means of uniting two souls, which is exactly what it was doing for Quistis and Zell. Quistis leaned her head softly upon Zell's shoulder as Zell closed his eyes, swaying back and forth softly with the music. Never once did Zell pay mind to the male members of his class giving him the thumbs up, or to their preverse comments; he was far too focused on Quistis sheer beauty and the moment at hand.

Quistis whispered softly into Zell's ear. "This was a great idea... I'm really starting to like you."

Zell whispered back, his words not exceeding the volume of Quistis'. "I already have for a long time. Whether you 'knew' or not, I'm not sure, but... this is the truth."

Quistis almost gasped in slight shock. "Actually... I had no idea."

Zell closed his eyes again. "Let's just dance."

Quistis happily obliged, returning her arms to their position around Zell's neck. Zell held her body closely to hers, their bodies swaying in tempo with the soft and romantic music. Suddenly, she realized that she never felt so protected. She was there in Zell's arms, and it was as if they had a barrier around them and them only. Nothing could harm them, for they were together, and in love...

   [1]: mailto:arianna@envy.nu



End file.
